Best Western Plus The Charles Hotel — Hotel in Saint Charles

I booked this hotel through AARP and even confirmed the looks of it through Google before even booking.

Service: We were welcomed with more demanding and low aggressive service off the bat. I tried to brush it off thinking maybe just a bad day. Last night we stayed is where some issues started to arise. Waiting almost 30 minutes for extra toilet paper by the front desk. Still no attendant. Some gentleman had to go to a door near the pool to knock to apparently wake the person on desk service. She comes out groggy while I, along with another gentleman, had been waiting for someone to attend to us. I don't think I should need to knock to wake someone on desk duty for service? Check out was easy and fast, lady with ginger hair and tattoos was lovely. Didn't catch her name.

Breakfast: Nice and fast lady that works the breakfast every morning was kind and juggling all of her duties fairly well. Props to her! She was friendly and handled her job very very well! Nice variety to the breakfast. I do have to say that one coffee machine isn't ideal but is fine. Lines of folks waiting for coffee early in the morning may cause a fight lol

Rooms: After checking in, we head to the room where we ride up to be met with cigarette smells lingering in the hallways in a non smoking section. Sticking to the people that were smoking and bringing it in? Unsure. We get to our room and are greeted with a decent room. It was clean other than some moldy spots in the walls and ceilings. It's an older hotel I get it but when your pictures taken of the rooms as preview pictures are not truthful, this is where I have an issue. The pictures showed a cleaner and different layout of the room (even different furniture), when opening the door, we got something completely different from what I was expecting. Please update the photos to be truthful about what customers are getting. The stains on the floor, heavy musty AC unit, and moldy walls just big fat "absolutely not". I wouldn't have booked if the pictures were truthful. This is not a three star hotel either. With the age of this place showing and from past reviews, it seems like no feedback has been taken seriously and the issues continue to persist.

The bed was clean other than, again, a few stains. Again, it's an older hotel. I get it. But this is not a three star hotel. Especially when workers are fixing the lights mid sleep and all I can hear is drilling while trying to rest. It desperately needs an update and the owner or whomever seems to not take the feedback seriously. Complaints from previous reviews seem to persist and updating or new things like sheets, are not important apparently.

Wifi: Awful. Seems that everything here is ran on a singular router.

Parking: Fine and plentiful, I do appreciate the couple of cameras that they have set up in the lot.

Location: Great. No more than 30 minutes from just about everything.

We had no issues truly from what is noted. Again, it's an old hotel. It's been around. But please take note of what customers are actually saying that needs updating (including staff customer service). And please update the pictures to depict the hotels actual state. It's in a great location and I truly believe if the updates were made, the customer base would be more than happy to return.

Side note: Doors are loud as all get up. This is another desperate update needed...

As long-time guests who have stayed at this Best Western Plus location regularly over several years, we've generally had positive experiences. However, our most recent stay left us disappointed due to poor communication and customer service regarding amenities. The hotel continues to deliver on many fronts. Our room was spacious and well-appointed with a comfortable bed, good lighting, and functioning outlets throughout. The television was nice, and we appreciated the comfortable color scheme that creates a welcoming atmosphere. Housekeeping maintains decent standards, and the bathroom is a reasonable size with the added bonus of a working fan. The iron and ironing board were in good working condition, and check-in was generally smooth. The lobby area features an impressive coffee machine, and the breakfast offerings were decent quality. These amenities continue to make this a solid choice for travelers.

Unfortunately, our stay was significantly impacted by infrastructure and service issues. We specifically reserved a jacuzzi room through Best Western's central reservations system using accumulated reward points we'd been saving for this trip. The reservations agent had no knowledge of any issues with the jacuzzi amenities. Upon check-in, we discovered not only was our jacuzzi broken, but the backup jacuzzi room was also out of order. The evening front desk clerk's response was dismissive and unhelpful, essentially stating that if we had checked the website, we would have known about the broken amenities. No alternative solutions were offered, and we were told to "take it up with the manager in the morning" if unsatisfied. This level of customer service falls far short of what we'd expect, especially for loyal returning guests using reward points. The disconnect between Best Western's central reservations system and the hotel's actual amenity status is concerning. If both jacuzzi rooms were out of service, this information should have been communicated to reservations to prevent exactly this type of guest disappointment. Beyond the jacuzzi issue, the room showed signs of wear. The bathtub has visible cracks indicating it needs replacement. For such a large room, the furniture is insufficient – a comfortable chair would greatly improve the guest experience. Additionally, the refrigerator placement in the small wardrobe, combined with the ironing board storage, leaves minimal space for clothing, making it particularly challenging for guests with winter jackets or longer stays.

While this Best Western Plus location has many positive qualities and has served us well over the years, the combination of broken amenities and poor customer service communication significantly impacted our recent experience. For a hotel that markets jacuzzi rooms as a premium feature, having multiple units out of service without proactive guest notification is problematic.

We hope management addresses these customer service and maintenance issues, as the location has potential to continue being a quality choice for St...

TL;DR: Stay somewhere else. There are better rooms for a similar value if you look. They seem to be early in the process of remodeling.

When we first checked in, service was impeccable. Not long after a service worker with a large trashcan in front of us used the down and up buttons to get the first possible elevator. Road it to the first floor before heading back up (basically ruining the optimization and taking up both elevators until the one that was headed up hit her floor and came back down.

Don't expect to use the luggage carts in the elevators. I was able to get one in, but there's hardly room for 2 people alongside the cart. In addition, it's difficult to get the cart back out.

The room was not satisfactory. I found multiple hairs in the bed and on the pillows. It smelled clean, but it's hard to not think about other hairs in the bed. The toilets are so low to the ground that anyone else with knee problems will likely have trouble with it.

And I don't know of a more delicate way to say this: Multiple men in our group reported that when they sat down, their testicles touched the toilet water. That's a horrific thought that had me avoiding the toilet at all costs.

The A/C units are the older style and the TV's do not support casting or using any streaming services so you are stuck with a very limited basic cable package that never has anything you want to watch.

The lighting in the room is not good. If it's dark out, you will have trouble getting enough light to sufficiently illuminate the whole room. At the same time if it's dark, there are no lights angled to only brighten up half the room. So anyone who has trouble sleeping with light in their face will probably have issues.

The outdoor patio is gated by the pool. So once the pool closes, you can't get back out to the patio. The front desk let us through, but it was very annoying.

There is no app for checkout or automatic checkouts. There is no app for room access.

Breakfast is substandard. There is a small mix of hot items, bagels, cereal and waffles. The only yogurt is yoplait light (too sweet) and the only milk options are a large carton of Almond Milk, and small bottles of chocolate milk.

Location-wise, it's next to a small Bass Pro Shop and a Texas Roadhouse. It's also a good 10 minutes from a couple soccer complexes. Traffic can be a...